Deal
by Lady Mayflower
Summary: Isaac needs help if he's going to clear out these dungeons and defeat his mother. But how far is he willing to go to get it?


_Hello, my little dungeon-rats! Mayflower here with another one-shot contribution to our brand-new baby Isaac board! (Look, what do you want? The One-Shot Generator is my spacebar item; it puts out amazing stories, but takes ages to recharge. I'm still looking for the passive that gives me the ability to write full-length stories.) Anyway, I'll just keep my blather short this time - enjoy! :)_

_**LAWYERBOT SAYS: "Does this game NEED defending? Really? I think Satan can stick up for himself."  
><strong>The Binding of Isaac, including all related characters, items, and locations (c) Edmund McMillen, because he's awesome.  
>Original story of 'the binding of Isaac' (c) God, 'cause I think he wrote the Bible.<em>

_WARNING: This story is not meant to encourage Satanism or sacrifice to devilish rituals. Unless your mother decides to sacrifice you to her god and you are forced to run for your life in a shady basement filled with deformed creatures that you can only fight with your tears; that would be a good time to give this a shot.  
><em>

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><p>Isaac slumped to the floor, heaving for breath as the bloody remains of the creature he dubbed 'Gurdy' collapsed and splattered even more gore against the already-gruesome dungeon walls. That fight was tough, and it wasn't made any easier by all of those boils and flies Gurdy had. Isaac shivered as he looked at what lay in front of him - another hole. He wasn't in his basement anymore, so how far did these crazy tunnels go down?<p>

He thought about stopping, even for just a little bit, but that biting voice echoed through the walls again: _Is~aac! _She was still out there. He didn't know where, but she was definitely still there. Still waiting to tear him into sacrificial pieces the moment she got her hands on him.

He had to keep running, had to keep dropping down, but...how much longer could he survive at this rate? He barely got out of that fight - the monsters under this floor would be even tougher. How much longer could he keep this up?

_It won't be long, Isaac..._

_Your mother's minions are even more powerful down below..._

_You won't last..._

_She'll find you..._

_She'll GET you..._

"Huh?" The teary-eyed boy looked up, searching to find the source of that voice. "Wait, how do you know 'bout my mama's monsters? Who are you? ...WHERE are you?"

_I want to help you, Isaac..._

_I want you to defeat her..._

"Help me? Help me how?"

_Your tears are mighty..._

_But they aren't enough..._

_You need POWER..._

_Power beyond your imagination..._

_Power that I can provide..._

Before Isaac could question the mysterious stranger more, he heard a loud _clunk!_, like the sound of an opening door. Looking up, he saw a stone door built into one of the walls...one that definitely wasn't there a second ago. (Having a room to hide in while he fought Gurdy would've been nice.) It was a black archway, with the stone head of a goat sitting at its keystone.

_The items you require are in here..._

_All you have to do is enter..._

Isaac hesitated, but again, a shiver ran up his spine as he could hear his mother's taunting laugh shake through the stone walls. This black doorway had 'bad idea' written all over it...and yet, going down alone sounded even worse.

xxxxx

As one could expect, the room was just as black as its doorway, with human skulls engrained into the walls (and to Isaac's disgust once he noticed, the floor). In the center of the room sat an onyx statue, a goat with black angel wings sitting cross-legged with a hand extended outwards and a hoof pointed to the sky.

More shocking, though, were the two item pedestals placed in front of the spooky statue. One was a black moon and star, with two bloody hearts painted on its stand. The other, whose stand only had one bloody heart on it, was a gray book with a black pentagram on its cover.

Eve's Mark of Babylon. Judas' Book of Belial. Both two of the scariest items he had in his collection. What were they doing here?

With a nervous gulp, Isaac reached back and grabbed his favorite red dice. He knew what those items were, but it didn't exactly mean he wanted to pick them up. He was a bit less power-crazy than his evil alter egos, to say the least. The little dice clacked along the floor, and just like in all of the shops, arcades, and gold rooms before, the items disappeared in two puffs of smoke, immediately replaced with two other items.

Isaac's heart dropped at the sight of the first one, the one that had replaced the Book of Belial. It was a black and white cat...or, at least, the corpse of one. _Guppy. _Mortified at the sight of his beloved cat...or what was left of her, Isaac rushed over and immediately reached out to grab her.

Big mistake. Before he could even touch his favorite pet, something in the pit of his stomach stopped him. It was a dark feeling, like a black energy was coming from little Guppy - as much as he loved that cat, he couldn't help but feel that picking her up would've done something horrible to him.

When he backed away from Guppy, though, his teary eyes fell upon the other pedastal, the one which held Eve's Mark of Babylon only moments ago. It was a nail - a long, rusty, bent-up nail.

This nail had a different feeling to it. It felt dark, but not as dark as Guppy. This nail wasn't cursed. It felt...POWERFUL. Isaac didn't even know what it could do, but there was an enticing aura to the strange item. The young victim felt nearly entranced by this simple piece of scrap metal. Whatever it was, it would DEFINITELY help him escape his crazy mother.

Isaac was so distracted by this hypnotic temptation of power that he didn't even realize why the feeling felt so familiar. It was the same heart-fluttering rush he felt before he...or rather, _Judas _picked up the Book of Belial for the first time.

_You can't go on by yourself, Isaac..._

_You NEED my help..._

_You NEED my power..._

_You NEED these items..._

The return of that mysterious voice returned Isaac to his senses, but only barely. He was aware enough that this voice was likely up to no good - why else would it be trying so hard to make him pick something up? However, that awareness was greatly fogged by another; the awareness that this mysterious voice was right. He DID need help. He DID need more power.

He DID need that rusty nail.

After a nervous breath of preparation, Isaac reached out and grabbed the nail, which immediately sprung to life and drove itself into the palm of his hand. The young refugee screamed with pain as the metal drove itself in as deep as it could go, threatening to poke out the other side.

Dropping to his knees, he instinctively clawed at the obstruction, then froze as the wound stopped shedding blood and instead bled a dark shadow. The darkness quickly took over his hand, climbed up his arm, and before Isaac knew what was going on, he was enveloped in black. The stranger's dark laughter echoed through his mind as his head began to split, the darkness sprouting two long, dark horns on his temples. He felt his eyes begin to bleed, and when the evil metamorphosis was complete, he gave a throaty growl.

This deal with the devil had nearly killed him.

_And yet he had never felt more __**alive**__._

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><p><em>DAT NAIL. Poor Isaac, so easily tempted by evil...but he's going to be rolling in Soul Hearts now, and that's all that matters, right? Alright, you guys know the deal - review, favorite, subscribe, la-di-dah, but most importantly, PLEASE start contributing to the board! I can't wait to read what you guys have got! :) Thanks for reading!<br>_

__**§ Tucker's Mayflower, signing off! §**__


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